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He went on: "I only ask you to undertake it because your occasional comments on the work you have done for me have been so helpful.

"Anything that your quick eye and mind falls upon, however critical and in whatever aspect of the writing, would be endlessly welcome. I am sorry to have to pass on to you a rather half-baked job."

Mrs Frampton clearly relished the role and became enthralled by his writing.

In one of her letters she wrote: "I still regret the end of Thunderball, as my naive and literal mind would like to know what exactly happened to the Disco and the rest of her crew and the bombs, how Domino escaped, and, of course, what about Blofeld (or does he live to fight another day?)"

The letters from Mrs Frampton to Fleming also refer to the other Bond books, including The Man with the Golden Gun, You only Live Twice and A View to a Kill.

Duke's auctioneers, of Dorchester, Dorset, are auctioning the letters on April 10, in the centenary year of Fleming's birth.

Included in the sale are some of the letters he wrote to his secretaries, Beryl Griffie-Williams and Una Trueblood, and the £8 12s 6d bill Mrs Frampton drew up for her work on Thunderball.

The entire collection has an estimate of £2,000 and £3,000.

Amy Brenan, from Duke's, said: "We have definitely chosen the right time to sell the collection as it corresponds with the release of the new James Bond book by Sebastian Faulks. It is 100 years since Fleming's birth.

"You can look on Mrs Frampton as Ian Fleming's Miss Moneypenny because he really does seem to rely on her.

"She was the first person to read the books and the collection is interesting because it details how the James Bond books were put together in the early 1960s."